By MH Staff - Posted on 1st December 2014

1 Farmer's Walk

Grab a pair of dumbbells and let them hang naturally at arm’s length next to your sides. Keeping your head and chest up and your shoulders back, brace your core and walk forwards.

2 Rack Carry

Instead of carrying the dumbbells at your sides, hold them in the “rack” position (in front of your shoulders with elbows tucked and palms facing in). Both this and the suitcase carry are harder than the farmer’s walk, so use lighter weights if you have to.

3 Suitcase Carry

For this variation (the hardest of the three), you need only one dumbbell. Hold it in one hand as you would a suitcase while you walk forwards, keeping your shoulders square and torso upright. Once you reach 20m, switch arms and repeat.

You squat, you press and you pull nearly every time you hit the gym. But when was the last time you took your weights for a walk? “Most guys never do,” says Dan John, a fitness coach in California, and the author of Intervention. If you’re one of those men, you’re neglecting a key part of building functional, real-world strength: increasing your carrying capacity. Put yours to the test with these farmer’s walk variations. “They’ll tax your core,” says John. “But done regularly, they’ll also strengthen it – which will make you stronger in everything you do.”

HOW TO DO IT
Start with the farmer’s walk, using two dumbbells that each weigh half your body weight. Walk 20m with perfect form. For an even greater challenge, try one of the other two tougher variations.